Geoffrey Chaucer

By: Abigail, Alyssa , and Shiyue

1. There is no exact date as to when Chaucer was acually born, but we do know that it was between 1340 and 1343 in London. His mother was Agnes de Copton and his father was called John.
2. He was from a middle-class family.
3. The last anem Chaucer is a French word that comes from the Latin word calcearius, which means shoemaker.
4. In the years 1348-1350, when Chaucer was a young boy, the Black Death (pneumonic plague) descended to England.
5. In the October of 1385, Chaucer became a justice of the peace for Kent.
6. In the July of 1389, Chaucer was appointed as the clerk of the works at various royal palaces and earned two shillings a day.
7. Chaucer was best known for "The Canterbury Tales." He wrote in middle english which was the time 1100-1485.
8. "The Canterbury Tales" was about a group of pilgrims from London, traveling to St. Thomas a Becket at Canterbury.
9. He wrote for Edward III and mainly Richard II.
10. On October 25, 1400, Geoffrey Chaucer died. He is buried in Westminster Abbey.
11. Geoffrey Chaucer is the greatest english poet of the Middle (Medieval) ages.
12.Chaucer changed the world of writing because he used every-day language to write. Before him, writing was always very proper and without error in grammar.

Link for information on Geoffrey Chaucer, and http://www.notablebiographies.com/Ch-Co/Chaucer-Geoffrey.html.

This is a website to help translate your section of the poem. Chaucer's Middle English Glossasry

The Former Age

By: Geoffrey Chaucer

Alyssa

A blisful lyf, a paisible and a swete,A blissful life, peaceful and sweet
Ledden the peples in the former age.people led in the former age
they helde hem payed of the fruites that they ete,They remained content with the fruits they ate
Which that the feldes yave hem by usage;which the fields always gave them
They ne were nat forpampred with outrage.They were not pampered with excess.
Unknowen was the quern and eek the melle;Unknown were the quern and the mill;
They eten mast, hawes, and swich pounage, they fed on nuts, haws and such mast
And dronden water of the colde welle.and drank water from the cold spring

Yit nas the ground nat wounded with the plough, As yet the ground was not wounded by the plough,
But corn up-strong, unsowe of manners hond,but corn sprang up not sown by man's hand;
The which they gnodded, and eete nat half ynough.this they rubbed to meal, and ate not half they desired.
No man yit knew the forwes of his lond;No man had yet seen the soil turned in furrows,
No man the fyr out of the flint yit fond;nor found the fire in the flint;
Unkorven and ungrobbed lay the vyne;the vine lay unpruned and uncultivated,
No man yit in the morter spyces grond no man as yet ground spices in a mortar to put in wine or sharp sauces.
to clarre, ne to sause of galantyne. to put in wine or sharp sauces.

No mader, welde, or wood no litestereNo dyer knew madder, weld or woad
Ne knew; the flees was of his former hewe;the fleece remained in its first hue
No flesh ne wiste offence of egge or spere; no flesh knew the attack of knife or spear;
No coyn ne knew man which was fals or trewe; man knew no coin, good or bad;
No ship yit karf the wawes grene and blewe;no ship yet cut the green and blue waves
No marchaunt yit ne fette outlandish ware; no merchant yet fetched foreign wares.
No trompes for the werres folk ne knewe,People knew no trumpets for the wars,
Ne toures heye and walles rounde or square. no high towers and walls round or square.

Shiyue

What sholde it han avayled to werreye? Of what purpose is there to make war?
ther lay no profit, ther was no richesse,There lay no profit, there were no riches(booty).
But cursed was the tyme, I dare wel seye,But cursed was the time, I dare well say,
that men first dide hir swety bysinesse when men first did their sweaty buisness
To grobbe up metal, lurkinge in derknesse, to grub up metal, lurking in darkness
and in the riveres first gemmes soghte. and in the rivers first sought gems
Allas! than sprong up al the cursednesseAlas! then sprung up all the cursedness
Of coveytyse, that first our sorwe broghte! of covetousness(k-uh-vet-uhs-nes) that first brought our sorrow!

Thise tyraunts putte hem gladly nat in pres these tyrants are not glad to put them in the press of battle,
No wildnesse ne no busshes for to winne; to win a wilderness or a few bushes
Ther poverte is, as seith Diogenes,their poverty is,where poverty dwells, as Diogenes says,
ther as vitaile is eek so skars and thinne where food is so scarce and thin
That noght but mast or apples is therinne. that nothing but mast or apples is there
But, ther as bagges been and fat vitaile, But where money-bags and fat meats are,
Ther wol they gon, and spare for no sinne there they will go and spare for no sin
With al hir ost the cite for t'assaile. to assail the city with all their host.

Abigail

Yit were no paleis-chaumbres, ne non halles;As yet were no palace halls or chambers.
In caves and [in] wodes softe and swete In caves and woods sweet and soft
Slepten this blissed folk withoute walles,slept these blessed people without (protected by no) walls.
On gras or leves in parfit quiete. on grass or leaves, in perfect peace,
Ne doun of fetheres, ne no bleched shete Down of feathers, and bleached sheets,were not known to them, but in security they slept.
Hir hertes were al oon, withoute galles; Their hearts were as one, with no spot of soreness, and each kept his faith to other.
Everich of hem hie feith to other kepte. , and each kept his faith to other.

Unforged was the hauberk and the plate; The hauberk and the plate-mail were yet unforged.
The lambich peple, voyd of alle vyce, The lamb-like people, void of all sin,
Habbed no fantasye to debate,had no fantasy to contend against each other,
But ech of hem wolde other wel cheryce;but each cherished another tenderly.
No pryde, non envye, non avaryce. No pride was there, or envy, avarice,
No lord, no taylage by no tyrannye; lordship, tyrannical taxation,
Humblesse nad pees, good feith, the emperice. but humility, peace, and good faith, the empress of all virtues.

Yit was not Jupiter the likerous, Jupiter the wanton,
That first was fader of delicacye,first father of delicate living,
Come in this world; ne Nembrot, desirous, was not yet come into the world; nor had Nimrod, with lust of rule built his lofty towers.
Allas, allas! now may men wepe and crye! Alas! alas! now may men weep and cry!
For in oure dayes nis but covetyse, For in our days is nothing but covetousness
Doublenesse, and tresoun, and envye,duplicity, treason and envy,
Poyson, manslauhtre, and mordre in sondry wyse. poisoning, manslaughter, and many kinds of murder.